Pieces of Dawn
by CrossRow
Summary: In the darkness of an alley, Batman comforts a blind girl as she awaits for the dawn to take her.


**Pieces of Dawn  
**

**All characters belong to Christopher Nolan and DC Comics**

**I do not own any of these characters**

* * *

Bright red flashes of the light captured within the depth of somber hazel, Batman moved silently down at the alleyway, his boots crunched on shards of fractured ice, his ears listened to 911 dispatch wafting from the parked GCPD squad cars surrounding the darken area.

He narrowed his eyes downcast, counting at the spatters of blood along the pavement, and he came after each drop until the trail led him to a little bunch of shadow underneath a wooden staircase. He paused in his steps, and peered gently into the darkness, his lips tightened into a firm line as he tried a soft whimper erupt behind piles of rubbish bags and decaying junk.

Cautiously, he bent down along his knees, dark cape draped over his physical structure as he became like stone gargoyle and met the frail child shivering in her tattered clothing.

The child was a victim of a merciless crime of assault, her pale blue eyes clouded with darkness. She was blind.

Batman quickly disregarded his cloak, wrapping in gently around her little torso, his eyes fall on her fatal wound seeping into the white fabric of her shirt. Setting his jaw hard, feeling his chest burn with harden remorse, Batman decided to utilize his normal voice as her guide of comfort. He swallowed down his ire, and parted his lips, releasing the soft and reassuring quality of the voice of Bruce Wayne.

"It's all right," he stated with a spoken richness piercing from his smooth mouth. His hazel eyes gleamed with a shimmer of trust as he lowered himself to her level. "You're safe with me." He felt his upper lip tremble, as grief struck him down once more. She was an innocent life, who he assured to protect with his own life.

Her mother was a murder victim, and elder brother found dead in an underground tunnel, but she was the survivor of a debased crime against mankind.

The price she paid was losing her sight for not breaking up the battle and getting chemicals splashed in her eyes-not allowing evil to gain ground.

This night he took hold of the man who made her lose everything, he and Selina Kyle took down the rabid inmate from Arkham and made sure his bloody hands were cuffed by Commissioner Jim Gordon. The dismal outcome of the night was allowing the kid to get bruised by a deep wound in her stomach. She was passing away, slowly bleeding out until her last breath.

He stretched out his gloved hand and fondled her face. She was cold.

"I know you're..." he paused in his words, his sullen eyes looked downward at the brave young girl who pulled through another life this evening. Another kidnapped child. "You saved someone tonight." He went down his eyes on blood seeping out of her side. "You're a hero."

She shook her head, coughing up blood. "Batman is a hero." she said weakly, her voice fading. "He's my hero."

Bruce felt the warm tears fill in his eyes underneath the slits of the mask. The girl counted up at him, a hand tried to him, and he forced himself closer, allowing her cold fingers trace his exposed chiseled jaw. "I know you're frightened, but you don't have to be afraid. You're going to place where heroes go and live forever." A solitary tear ran down the jagged edge of his cowl.

"I'm not scared," she said. "But I don't want to be alone." She gripped his shoulder. "Will you stay with me?"

"Yes," he whispered softly, enclosing his gauntlet arms around her frozen body, he cradled her against his plated chest. "I'm going to be right here." He brushed her curly strands of dark hair off her pale face. "Close your eyes, I'll protect you."

She arched her delicate ruby lips in a beautiful smile, her arms wrapped about his shoulders. "When I go away... Is there anyone you want to say hello to?"

Bruce clenched his eyes, feeling the tears slope down his warm cheeks under the mask, his heart began to swell up as he took heed to her raspy breathing. "My parents," he choked up.

"What are their names?" she asked.

"Thomas and Martha," He responded, voice cracking in his pharynx. "Tell them I miss them so much and I'm sorry."

She nodded, putting her finger along his bottom lip, "I will..."

"Bruce," he said with faint breath, his tears land on her cheek.

"Bruce," she echoed, with a soft smile. "I'm Emily."

He curled the edges of his soft lips into a tender smile, "Hello Emily."

"I know I can't see you, but from hearing your voice I can tell you're a good man." She sounded out with an angelic face, wiping away the tears off the graphite mask. Her fingers moved upward, as he leaned his head down to her, and she felt his pointed ears. "Batman," she heaved with all little breath, her small lungs could muster up. "Don't forget that you're a hero."

Batman watched her lips move as the utmost of her breath escaped the moment she dropped dead in his arms, he softly closed her lids and pressed a gentle kiss on her cold forehead. "I won't forget, Emily." He lifted his teary gaze up and gazed downward at the smile on her face.

He smiled as well, recognizing that she finally could see the light out of the darkness. He fronted upward and caught the reflections of sunrise in the windows of the buildings surrounding the alley, he straightened off the asphalt, passing over her lifeless body with his cape, and he took her in his strong arms, declaring her as he walked away the shadows and found Commissioner Jim Gordon standing in front of a parked police car, babbling to a few officers.

He rejected to open his mouth and tell his loyal friend she died without feeling no pain, instead he went to the automobile and put the body on the hood. "I will see you again, Emily," he whispered, stepping out from the vehicle and disappearing into the darkness and allowing the dawn to guide him home.


End file.
